Automatic headlight reflector



March 25 1924. 1,487,755

, J. PETERSEN AUTOMAT I C HEADLI GHT REFLECTOR Filed March 24. 1923 I N VEN TOR.

WITNESS; l7 I JOHN PETERSEN.

A TTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

JOHN PETERSEN, 0E MADISON, Wisconsin.

AUTOMATIC HEADLIGHT REFLECTOR.

Application filed March 24, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN PETERSEN, a citizen of the United States, residin at Madison, in the county of Dane and tate of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Headlight Reflectors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatically adjusting headlights; and the objects of my invention are, first, to use only the top, sides, and back of a reflector with a light bulb located at the back and adjacent the lower edge of same; second, to truncate the top of the reflector and place a visor across the top; third, to hinge the reflector to the top of the inside of a casing; fourth, to provide a control means attached to the inside of the side walls for keeping the same in a horizontal position regardless of the grade of the. road; and fifth, to so construct the casing in which the reflector is mounted that it can be applied to any head-light body as now used on road vehicles.

I attain these objects by the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1, is a horizontal section on line AB, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2, is a partial vertical Section on line C-D, Fig. 3; v

Fig. 3, is a front elevation;

Fig. 4, is a front elevation of control, de-

' tached Fig. 5, is a side elevation of the same.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The front of the reflector 1 is curvilineal with the top truncated, and the base at the back is semi circular with tangent sides diverging towards the front. A light bulb 2, is located within the reflector at the back and near the bottom in a socket 3, and attached or removed in the usual manner. A bracket 4, is secured to the back near the top of the reflector and is hingedly connected to a tube 5, which is rigidly secured to a casing 6, which incloses and is the frame of my entire device. A beam 7, with depending plates 8, which are bi-furcated at the lower ends,'is secured to the reflector on the inside and adjacent the lower and Serial No. 627,502.

ends of the plates 8, and a shaft 14:, is rev- 7 olubly mounted in the said boxes, upon said shaft abutting the boxes collars 15, and next spur gears 16, are mounted and between the gears at the center of the shaft, a hollow rim balance wheel 17, is secured, and within the rim a plurality of steel balls 18, are placed; a latch 19, is attached to the rear end of one of the walls 11, to limit the movement backward of the balance wheel and the forward movement is adjusted by the arms 20, of the yoke 21, which is pivotally attached to the front side of the walls 11, and its position adjusted by a screw 22, threaded in the stand 10, and a tension spring 23, leading from the outer end of the yoke to the casing 6. The reflector being suspended from the top of the casing 6, by the bracket 4, would if the center of gravity was directly under the tube 5, maintain a horizontal position, but swinging free would be efi'ected by every little pitch of the car, for that-reason I have decided to use the balance wheel control as shown. A change in the grade of the road will cause the weighted balance wheel to roll to a point under the tube 5, and hold it there by means of the teeth of the gears 16, meshing with the rack 12, and prevent any swinging of the reflector but will quickly and automatically adjust the head-light to a position whereby the light will be on the road and kept below the eyes of drivers of approaching cars. By the forward adjusting means, screw 22, lights can be adjusted to strike the road at any de sired distance ahead of the car. To provide for fitting the casing 6, to different head-light bodies, the outer flange is made for the largest in use and cut down for other sizes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim In automatically adjusting head-lights, a

truncated reflector suspended from a hinge in the top of a casing, and controlled by a bar across the bottom of same, said bar loosely connected to the shaft of a hollow rim balance wheel which carries movable weights within the rim, said shaft through rollers and gears moving upon a track concentric with the hinge aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa- JOHN PETER-SEN. Witnesses JOHN L. BOURKE, DOROTHY M. STRAUSS. 

